2018 Jeep Compass ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
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When I first purchased my car, for some reason it kept starting, and then the engine would turn off in the middle of driving. As of lately the Key fob has been undetected in the car or battery is low. I have replaced my key fob twice. I have also replaced my batteries in both of the key fobs. After I replace the key fob, the check engine light came on in the car is stalling not starting properly. Sometimes I have to press the multiple times for it to start up. Recently I was driving and my car just stalled and I could not get it to start again. I have had this happen to me over 10 times. There was a recall for exactly what was happening to my car. NHTSA Recall 18v-524 just that my car was not recalled. I am now without a car and it clearly is experiencing EXACTLY what the recall says. over 5 times I was on the road when the car stalled / stopped while I was driving. It just stopped in the middle of the road. Now my car will not start at all. I have not even had the car for two years. The car has 40,000 miles on it. I got the car at 20,000 miles. They have been 6 recalls for cars like mine however my specific VIN was not included. The recalls that I am most concerned with. u87 and w20.
I Changed Both Batteries On My Truck And A Blown Fuse & It Still Wont Start. Cant Figure Out Why The Fuse & Replacement One Keeps Blowing Out. Only Signs Come On The Dashboard After Changing Both Batteries Are The Electronic Throttle Control Warning Light & Engine Check Light.
UNKNOWN Vehicle dashboard dinged and text on the screen alerted me that the temperature of the coolant was too high or overheated. The vehicle immediately stopped accelerating. Before I could properly engage my blinker and pull off the roadway in a safe manner, the vehicle resumed normal operating status and temperatures read normal. This has happened over 5x, speed driven during each event varying from 28-65. Weather was mild, two events occurring in winter months with temps no more than 45 F. Coolant was checked and appeared to be at normal levels following the latest event. The roadway conditions, traffic rules and conditions of overall transportation system when this alert disengages driver's ability to control speed of vehicle put driver and passengers at risk of being rear ended by traffic traveling in the same direction from behind. Especially in South Dakota, the place of for owner and driver of this JEEP Compass, where large pick up trucks hauling livestock or other ag products and semi trucks hauling general trailer loads are commonplace.
I leased a 2018 jeep compass in the month of September that year brand new. light kept appearing on my dash that I was not familiar with. Basically it had to do with parking on a hill indicator, the radio wouldn’t always work either, and a loud boom on Highway. However we parked the car on flat grounds at all times. That was the beginning of the malfunctioning with this vehicle. I had just got an oil change end of 2019, one day driving in an alley area with my 2year old daughter, my car literally shut off on me while driving at speeds of 10 mph. Everything shut off. Fortunately I was able to turn it back on and the next day took it to the dealership. The result was I needed a brand new engine. WHAT, it’s a little over a year old how can this be? The oil was gone all cylinders were shot, not sure what that meant but a month without my car I received it back with a new refurbished engine. Fortunately all was covered under the manufacturer warranty. Thought the problems were solved. Nope it constantly has malfunctions with the radio, reverse camera doesn’t always work, a loud bang happens when I’m on the highway at the highway speed, let my foot off the accelerator and a loud bang happens. On [XXX], in the middle of an intersection my foot was on the brake and the on/off engine thing went off. Then I proceeded to accelerate and the car shut off. This time all the lights were on inside the dash area but my brake locked up so hard and the steering wheel along with the windows wouldn’t work. I placed the car in park and the e brake and for 15 minutes tried turning it back on. It was terrifying, it turned on and brought it to the dealership and explained the situation. It’s currently there now and at the moment they say it’s the battery. I DO NOT feel safe in this car being that I always have my children in the car all the time. An investigation needs to be seriously opened with these vehicles. I’ve been paying for a car that has potentially risked my families life. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
When the vehicle halts at a red light or stop sign, it activates the auto stop/start feature, causing the engine to shut off. However, when I release the brake to accelerate, the car might briefly restart and then stalls. This has happened several times.
DRIVING AT FREEWAY SPEED, THE ENGINE DIES. STEERING WHEEL LOCKS UP AND I COAST TO A STOP. VERY DANGEROUS. AFTER 10-15 MINUTES, JEEP WILL START AND DRIVE AN UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF TIME AND SAME THING WILL HAPPEN. I TOOK TO A LOCAL GARAGE BECAUSE IT IS OUT OF WARRANTY. THE SHOP MANAGER SAID THERE IS NO ENGINE CODE OR DIRECTION FOR THEM TO DETERMINE WHAT IS WRONG. INTERNET SEARCH SHOWS THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM WITH 2017-2019 JEEP COMPASS. HOWEVER APPARENTLY NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE KNOW THEY CAN FILE A REPORT WITH NHTSA OR THERE WOULD BE A GIGANTIC NUMBER MORE COMPLAINTS THAN THERE ARE. SOMEONE WILL DIE IN A CRASH BECAUSE OF THIS WELL KNOWN ISSUE. HOPEFULLY SOMETHING WILL BE DONE BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. BATTERIES REPLACED, CAR SERVICED, AND STILL CONTINUES TO HAPPEN. HAS HAPPENED AROUND 5 TIMES IN LAST 2 WEEKS. AN ISSUE ALL OVER THE INTERNET AND CLEARLY A FAULT IN MANUFACTURING.
Driving to work and felt like engine locked up. Looked at dashboard and the coolant gauge on left side suddenly spiked and said "Coolant Temperature High." Then 2-3 seconds later the coolant temp gauge went straight back to normal and engine came back on.
High Coolant Temperature Message appears on the dash and engine shuts off regardless of speed. Happens very often
The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that the main control screen began to malfunction and was independently activating different apps, make phone calls, turn on the heated seats and sudden electrical failures. The contact stated that the low oil level warning light illuminated one and a half month after having an oil change performed. While driving at various speeds, the vehicle decelerated, and the vehicle stalled. The contact restarted the vehicle and the vehicle operated as needed. The failure persisted. The contact stated while idling at a red light, the vehicle failed to accelerate while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact restarted the vehicle and the vehicle accelerated as needed. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer however, the mechanic was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The mechanic was able to restart the vehicle. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 37,000.
Unknown , it has been taken in for diagnostic testing and each time they stated they weren’t able to find anything wrong with the automobile.
Was driving home on the highway and the dash board lights all flashed red then the car would no longer accelerate and the check engine light stayed on. We had a baby in the car and had to pull over using the cars momentum to exit the highway as safely as we could in a dangerous situation. I have just had the entire long block engine replaced in January.
The start/stop function at times stalls car. Touch screen sometimes switches to other things. On/off and screen switch.
The car burns through oil and at often times is empty, which is not good.
The contact owns a 2018 Jeep Compass. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle stalled with several unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 83,348.
UNKNOWN
Stop/Start system We took the car to get it checked out within the first month due to hard shift and for warning light. We were told the warning light for stop/start was on because it needed an update. It came back on within a few months. Then our car battery had died, changed it out, and within maybe 6 months the new one died. We changed out both batteries this last time, and the within a week the stop/start warning came back on. Now it comes on and off sporadically for the last month. So we are clueless about this stop/start and what to do about it.
When stopping at a red light the start/stop system activated and the truck would not restart. There was an alert saying service ecs system and the parking brake activated on its own. It took about 10 minutes for us to be able to deactivate the parking brake and for it to start again. This has happened 2x and only when the start/stop happens. My check engine light has come on and now I'm getting a service engine notification.
Key fob not detected since I bought certified pre-used. There’s an oil consumption issue. There’s a stall issue that completely cut my Jeep off in the middle of rush hour traffic almost causing an accident. I’ve replaced batteries 2x and had to dealer 3x with them unable to reproduce symptoms. They didn’t do the oil consumption test. Just changed oil. This Jeep is a serious hazard!!
This 2018 Jeep Compass Latitude has gone through several repairs already; a lot of them concerning the start/stop system and the battery that powers this feature. In the past 4-5 years, it's been replaced three times. In addition, the engine had to be replaced due to high oil burn. As of recent, the vehicle has started displaying "Stop safely. Vehicle with Shut Off Soon" message; especially during highway cruising. This has posed a highly increased safety risk for my family and there seems to be no way for the dealer to address the problem because they cannot replicate it. The vehicle underwent these repairs when covered by the warranty but because of it's mileage, it is no longer eligible. We need
When stopping at a red light, the car stalls and is unable to restart for 5-10 minutes. All of the lights and emergency notifications start popping up on the screen. Stating service start/stop. This has happened multiple times in the last month in the middle of intersections.
The car stalls while driving or or stop. It restarts after a few tries
While driving vehicle, warning lights came on stating "Stop Safely Vehicle will shut off soon". There was no other indication of any issue with the vehicle. The engine then shut off in the middle of the road with no power steering or any other features. Safety was put at risk not being able to control vehicle while driving in the middle of the road. Vehicle restarted 10 minutes later with no issue. Warning light issue repeated itself a week later.
While driving, car began to overheat. I have recently completed an oil change where all my fluids are topped off to ensure proper functionality. Upon inspection, the coolant is completely empty and the car continues to use up coolant as it is used. Car becomes overheated within minutes of driving. When turning on the car occasionally, the dashboard flashes and does not work.
I was driving my daughter to school going 25-30 miles per hour and the car engine shut off as we were moving on the road. I didn’t realize it was off until I couldn’t move the steering wheel. The car stopped in the middle of the road disrupting traffic. The lights on the dashboard were on but the engine wouldn’t start. The dashboard message said “place the car on Parking, press the break and push the button to turn on the car”. I attempted several times to place the car in Parking but it wouldn’t recognize the shift. Finally after several harsh attempts of going from Drive to Parking on the shift, the lights went off and the car recognized being on Parking. I was able to turn the car back on and drove it to the dealer. This is the second time that the car shuts off, the first time I wasn’t driving it though. It stopped working while warming up with the Auto Start feature and parked. It was asking for the same “to place the car on parking” but the car was already on parking. Eventually we unplugged the battery and plugged it back on and after 20ish minutes the car turned on again. No code was detected by their computer scanner. Mechanic claimed I may just need oil. No diagnosis as of today.
Car is stopping while driving at highway speed (second time in a little over a month). Car was taken to Spartanburg dodge after first incident. They claimed it was due to unknown factor and then claimed it was low on oil, which was not true as there was no warning or low oil warning. this car belongs to my daughter and the dealerships think that women are not knowledgeable enough to know of the oil situation. On public forums, there are many sites telling of exact problem and the dealerships will not take responsibility for the situation.
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Quick Summary
The 2018 Jeep Compass has 56 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE complaints on file. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.